


Hard Knocks

by thealphagate_archivist



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Action/Adventure, First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-03-15
Updated: 2006-03-15
Packaged: 2019-02-02 00:42:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12716256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thealphagate_archivist/pseuds/thealphagate_archivist
Summary: Answer to the "rock and a hard place" challenge.





	Hard Knocks

**Author's Note:**

> Note from the archivists: this story was originally archived at [The Alpha Gate](https://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Alpha_Gate), a Stargate SG-1 archive, which began migration to the AO3 in 2017 when its hosting software, eFiction, was no longer receiving support. To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in November 2017. We e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are this creator and it hasn't transferred to your AO3 account, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Alpha Gate collection profile](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/thealphagate).

  
Author's notes: A little language.  


* * *

"Let's get this over with as quickly as possible, kids," Jack asserted once the rest of his team had joined him on the rough grass in front of the Stargate. "Teal'c, you go with Carter to play in the dirt, and I'll take Daniel to look at his rocks. Check in every two hours and we'll meet back here in eight." 

Daniel opened his mouth to say something, but was forestalled by a peremptory raised finger from Jack, who then continued, "Ah! This is a preliminary survey only, Daniel. We report back on our initial findings and then a decision will be made as to whether we log the planet for further study. You know that." 

Daniel closed his mouth again and the team split up, as per Jack's instructions. It had been a while now since Daniel had managed to get even a single word of protest out in these situations before being stomped on, and he only really tried out of habit. As Jack had reminded him more than once during their early missions, SG-1 was a first contact team and it would be up to others to follow up their work if it was deemed worthwhile. Daniel had long since given up his preference for extended study, except for the occasional consultancy for a different team, in favour of the excitement of missions with SG- 1. 

If he was really honest with himself, though, it wasn't the excitement that kept him where he was. The real reason he stayed with SG-1 was the man now walking at his side across an alien landscape. The hard-headed, stubborn, narrow-minded, completely infuriating Air Force colonel to whom Daniel willingly entrusted his life on a daily basis. He was also the strong, kind-hearted, soul- sore and downright sexy man to whom Daniel had unwillingly surrendered his heart some months before. Ever since all possibility of being reunited with Sha're had been irrevocably destroyed by Teal'c's staff weapon blast, Daniel had gradually allowed the extent of his true feelings for Jack to surface in his heart and mind. Their object was intentionally oblivious, however, since Daniel was sure Jack could never feel the same way. He was long accustomed to being alone, though, and contented himself with the friendship that had existed between them now for several years. 

As they walked in companionable silence, Daniel took a moment to appreciate the chance to spend some time with Jack without the danger of imminent attack or nasty surprises. The telemetry sent back from P3R-274 by the UAV had shown no signs of current habitation anywhere near the gate, which was presumably why Jack had felt comfortable splitting the team. Daniel knew Jack wasn't overly happy with their current assignment, since he always seemed to feel somewhat superfluous on purely scientific missions. There was also the fact that he was completely uninterested in the things that fascinated Sam and Daniel about the planet. It gratified Daniel that Jack had chosen to accompany him rather than going off with Sam to collect the ubiquitous soil samples, making him think that perhaps Jack did have slightly more interest in what Daniel was doing here. This impression was unexpectedly corroborated when Jack suddenly broke the silence with a question. 

"So, what's so special about these rocks that means we have to traipse halfway across this boring planet to take a look at them, Daniel?" 

It wasn't exactly the most enthusiastic of questions, but Daniel never needed much encouragement to talk about his passion. He spent the rest of the hour-long walk happily detailing to Jack precisely why he didn't think the strange rock formation he'd spotted on the UAV's video footage was natural. He expounded on his theories of what this might mean about the history of the planet's possible inhabitants, cross-referencing with what he knew of Earth cultures that build similar structures. By the time they arrived at their destination, Jack seemed to be expecting some amazing feat of structural engineering, and his reaction to the waist-high piles of pebbles they found made Daniel smile. 

"This is what you `re so excited about?" Jack exclaimed. "For crying out loud, Daniel, you really need to get a life!" 

"You just have no appreciation for subtlety, Jack," Daniel retorted. 

Jack wandered off to check the perimeter, muttering about rock- obsessed geeks under his breath, and left Daniel to his investigations. The archaeologist ignored him, instantly engrossed in what he was doing. Circling the stones slowly, he recorded them from every angle with his compact video camera. The first thing that had caught his interest was the fact that they were several shades lighter than the rocks of the surrounding area, suggesting that they had been moved there from elsewhere. The other major giveaway was that they were all perfectly smooth and had been arranged in piles of decreasing size, laid out in a rough oval shape. 

Once he had finished filming, Daniel approached one of the piles that had collapsed, spilling its stones into the centre of the oval. With the care and reverence borne out of many years handling rare and fragile artefacts, he began to pick up the rocks and replace them on the appropriate pile. As he reached to collect some of the smaller stones from where they had scattered, Daniel's hand trailed through the dust and he noticed some kind of marking on the ground beneath. Scraping away some more of the debris, he began to uncover a smooth platform that had a pattern engraved on its surface. Daniel grabbed his pack and quickly pulled out the set of brushes he had brought with him from Earth. Excitedly, he selected the largest one and started sweeping the dust aside to reveal more of the carving. By the time he was done, he was kneeling on a large oval-shaped slab of rock. It was cut in two across the shortest section, with the top part separated further into triangles by deep lines that extended out to the surrounding piles of stones, while the bottom half had a collection of strange symbols etched into it. 

It was at this point that Daniel felt the need to share his discovery, so he stood up and called out to Jack, who immediately came jogging over. 

"What is it?" the older man asked before being brought up short as he saw what lay at Daniel's feet. "Okay, so I'll concede the freak of nature argument now," he continued. "What does it mean?" 

"Absolutely no idea," Daniel admitted, grinning up at his friend. Then he took a couple of steps back and looked down at the symbols intently. Suddenly, he spotted something different about one of them and knelt back down to take a closer look. 

"Daniel?" Jack questioned, but received no response. The younger man reached out and pressed down on one part of the rock. A small section sank down underneath his fingers, accompanied by a deep rumbling noise and a slight vibration in the ground. Daniel sat back in surprise, and the section of stone came back up as he released it, putting an end to the noise. 

"Daniel?" Jack said again, his tone much more wary in light of these unexpected developments. 

Daniel heard him but held up one hand to forestall any further comments, not wanting his train of thought to be interrupted. He was glancing around the area, hoping to spot something that would tell him the next step. His eyes alighted on a fairly large rock that sat on its own slightly outside the oval. With a sudden inspiration, Daniel reached out and hefted the rock over to where he was kneeling and thumped it down on the symbol. The section of stone sank once more and this time was held down by the weight of the rock. The rumbling began again and, as the two men watched, the triangular sections of the slab shifted down as well and slowly slid backwards to reveal a staircase leading down. 

"Holy crap!" Jack exclaimed with his usual eloquence. "How did you know that was there?" 

"I didn't," Daniel replied with an indulgent smile. "That's the beauty of exploration, Jack - making unexpected discoveries!" He peered down in the darkness, musing, "I wonder what's down there." 

"Now, just hold on a minute and try to remember what happened to the cat," Jack warned. "I'll let Carter and Teal'c know what we've found before we start exploring further." 

Daniel wasn't listening. Instead, he was slowly edging forwards to the enticing opening, gazing down the stairs in obvious eagerness. He vaguely registered Jack turning away to climb a nearby rise of land, and then he heard him reporting briefly to their other team members. Unable to resist what he saw as an open invitation, Daniel brought out his flashlight, flicked it on and started to descend. He heard Jack sign off, and then a frustrated exclamation of "Dammit, Daniel!" before he reached the bottom of the steps and the darkness swallowed him. 

Sweeping the beam of his flashlight around in interest, Daniel followed a perfectly carved square tunnel for several feet. Then he heard hurried footsteps behind him and a firm hand landed on his shoulder, spinning him round to face a clearly annoyed Jack. 

"Daniel! What the hell do you think you're doing?" the older man demanded. 

Daniel patted the hand that still rested on his shoulder. "It's alright, Jack," he replied calmly. "I don't think anybody's home." 

Jack snatched back his hand in exasperation. "That's not the point and you damn well know it, Daniel. How many times do I have to tell you not to go wandering off, for crying out loud?" 

Daniel turned away, back to the tunnel, in order to hide the smirk that crept across his features. Earlier that day, Sam had challenged him to try and provoke as many utterances of Jack's personal catchphrase as he could while they were offworld. He'd managed two already, and the day had hardly begun. 

Before he had taken two more steps, Jack grabbed the strap of his pack and yanked him backwards, taking the lead himself and stalking down the tunnel, shoulders hunched and gun raised. 

As Daniel had predicted, there was no sign that anyone had walked the tunnel before them in quite some time. It twisted back and forth once or twice but there were no intersections and eventually they were forced to a halt by a dead end. However, the end of the tunnel didn't signal an end to Daniel's investigation of it. On the left hand side, a couple of metres before the wall that blocked their progress, his flashlight revealed more carvings like those he had discovered on the surface. 

"So, now what?" Jack wanted to know, breaking into Daniel's scrutiny of the symbols. 

Without removing his gaze from the wall, Daniel replied absently, "I'm guessing there's a larger underground complex behind this wall and that somewhere here there's a way to open the door." He ran his fingers lightly over the engraved surface. "It should just be a case of finding the right section to press, like before." 

Jack sighed and paced back to the open side of the tunnel. Shining his flashlight onto the face of his watch, he decided, "I'll give you ninety minutes, Daniel. After that, we're heading back up to check in with Carter and Teal'c." 

"No need," Daniel said as his questing fingers detected a change in the feel of the stone beneath them. "I think I've got it." He applied pressure to the designated section of wall and was immensely satisfied to feel it slide smoothly inwards. There was an immediate rumbling noise, as before, but no motion from the tunnel wall. Daniel's attention was focused entirely on the perceived doorway, waiting for it to open, so he didn't notice Jack scanning the ceiling of the tunnel. The next thing Daniel knew, there was a shouted warning from Jack and a firm hand in the small of his back sent him hurtling towards the dead end. He wasn't quick enough to bring his arms up to soften the impact, so he hit the rock head first and everything went black.

* * *

Awareness returned slowly. The first indication Daniel had that he was awake was a dull ache in his head. He opened his eyes gradually but was confronted only by darkness. Then, in a rush of memory, he realised that he shouldn't be alone and he took a deep breath in order to call out to Jack. A whole cloud of dust chose that moment to introduce itself to his windpipe, setting him off in a fit of coughing that awakened several other aches in different parts of his body. It served his purpose, though, since Jack's concerned tones were the next thing he heard. 

"Daniel? You back with me?" Jack asked unnecessarily. 

"I'm here," Daniel managed to gasp out when the coughing had passed. "What happened?" 

"Well, I'm guessing that whatever you pressed, it wasn't the code for the door. Looks like our absent aliens weren't too keen on uninvited guests." Jack paused briefly as if trying to catch his breath. "Are you okay?" 

Daniel responded with "I think so," just as his attempts to get up proved that he actually wasn't. When he placed his hands underneath himself to push himself upright, he experienced an agonising pain in his left wrist and promptly collapsed back down on the ground. Not wanting to worry Jack unduly, he managed to bite off the cry that formed in his throat and carefully rolled onto his side instead. After that, he got himself up into a sitting position without too much more difficulty and deflected attention away from himself with a question of his own. "How about you?" 

"Well, I'm coming to a new appreciation of the cliché `caught between a rock and a hard place'," Jack quipped, but Daniel could hear the strain evident beneath his friend's forced levity, and his stomach clenched in sudden fear. 

Scrabbling round on the floor with his good hand, Daniel eventually found his flashlight and flicked it on, wincing against the sudden beam of light. After a few seconds of adjusting to the brightness, he swung the flashlight round to take a look at his surroundings. What he saw brought his heart straight into his mouth along with a strangled cry of alarm. Jack was pinned against the carved wall by a large boulder that had apparently swung down from an opening in the other side of the tunnel. A trap, no doubt triggered by Daniel's attempts to open the door. 

At what was clearly an expression of open horror on Daniel's face, Jack seemed to attempt a reassuring smile, and only managed a twisted grimace. 

"I'm sure it looks worse than it is," the trapped man told his friend. "I can still feel everything and nothing hurts enough to really be worried about." 

Daniel's throat constricted with guilt; this entire situation was his fault. 

"Jack, I'm." he began, but the older man cut him off before he could get any further. 

"You're not going to apologise, are you?" Jack groaned. "Because this experience is already painful enough without having to listen to one of your guilt trips." 

Daniel wasn't about to be deterred that easily. "But if I'd been paying proper attention to what was going on, we wouldn't be in this mess," he maintained, determined to accept blame for their predicament. 

"And if I'd pulled you left instead of pushing you right, we'd both be back on the surface by now," Jack countered. "And if you'd decided to jump forwards at the same time I tried to push you back, we might both be dead." He locked gazes with the younger man sitting at his side. "Agonising over `what ifs' won't get us out of here, Daniel," he said firmly. "And buried alive is not how I'd planned to spend this afternoon, so let's start getting practical." Jack's eyes flicked to where his face was jammed up against the wall. "I'm not in the best position to evaluate the situation, so you'll have to help me out here." 

Daniel dutifully braced himself against the smooth wall at his back and pushed himself to his feet. He was simultaneously hit by a jolt of pain from his damaged wrist and a wave of dizziness that left him leaning against the wall with his eyes clenched shut, fighting down nausea. 

"Daniel?" The single word was spoken softly and with a tenderness its recipient rarely heard from the man who uttered it, particularly directed at him. Forcing his breathing to a normal level risking opening his eyes, Daniel glanced across at Jack to see concern etched all over his face. This brought a smile to Daniel's lips that he didn't have to fake, and he said, "It's okay. I just stood up too fast. I'll be alright in a minute." 

He heard Jack mutter under his breath, "For crying out loud - put the man in charge and he goes all macho on me." 

That's three, Daniel's mind automatically counted off, and the absurdity of it provoked a hysterical giggle that immediately had Jack even more worried. Daniel caught his expression and made a supreme effort to sober himself. Without looking at it, he surreptitiously tucked his injured arm into the front of his jacket and turned resolutely to face his friend. 

"No, really. I'm fine," he asserted. 

He didn't miss the way Jack's eyes flicked down to his concealed hand, nor the way Jack's lips consequently set themselves into a determined smile as their owner clearly decided not to make an issue of it. All that passed across Jack's features in a couple of seconds but, even in the dim light, they were features so well known to Daniel that he couldn't fail to notice every nuance of their expression. 

Realising that he was gawping at Jack like a love-struck puppy, Daniel shook his head slightly and turned his attention to the matter at hand. Casting his gaze around their underground prison, he took in the solid wall of the dead end, the scattering of smaller rocks that had been dislodged when they sprang the trap, and the giant boulder that now effectively cut off their escape route. It was rough-hewn and jagged so it didn't seal the tunnel completely, but the small gaps at the top and sides that let in air were not large enough for Daniel to fit through. There was no way he would be able to shift the rock on his own, and it only took a couple of failed attempts to contact Sam and Teal'c to discover that their radio transmissions wouldn't reach very far underground. They were well and truly trapped, and on their own. 

"Okay, let's think about this logically," Daniel muttered more to himself than to Jack, who must have realised a response wasn't necessary, since he didn't make a contribution. "This was obviously a trap to capture unwanted intruders, but the inhabitants wouldn't want their entryway blocked permanently, so there must be a mechanism to reset the trap." 

At this point, Jack did interject. "Yeah, but it's probably on the other side of the door." 

Daniel considered this for a moment before responding. "Well, yes, there would have to be a reset button inside the complex, in case all the inhabitants were in when the intruders triggered the trap out here. But," he temporised, his scientific mind carrying him along the line of argument, "there would have to be one outside as well, in case all they were all out and came back to find someone had tried to gain entry in their absence. In actual fact, it would make more sense if there was another exit to the complex somewhere and the trap reset was only operational from out here, since they wouldn't want to reset it from inside anyway." 

"How do you figure that, Daniel?" Jack asked, after the archaeologist had been lost in thought for a few moments. 

"Oh, well, just think about it, Jack," Daniel replied, convinced as usual that everyone should be able to follow his train of thought without an explanation. "If they were inside and released their captives before opening the door, there would always be the chance that they might be able to get away. But if they opened the door first, they'd likely get squished intruder all over their front mat. Not much good either way round." 

"Thanks for the image," Jack groaned. "So, now that we've been through all the theories about how this place is set up, do you actually have any idea how to get us out of it?" 

Daniel took a deep breath, reminding himself that Jack had to be very frustrated, trapped as he was and unaccustomed to not being in control of every situation. In addition, Daniel's own relative freedom had to make his immobility all the more galling. 

Keeping himself calm, Daniel replied in neutral tones, "I'm going to look for the reset button." 

Jack snorted. "I hardly think it's going to be somewhere the captive intruders would be able to activate it!" 

Daniel felt his tenuous control over his temper slipping. He was finding it difficult enough to keep his equilibrium in their current situation, and Jack's uncharacteristic pessimism certainly wasn't helping. He turned back to his companion and stepped forward so that they were face to face. 

"Well, Sam and Teal'c won't miss us for quite some time yet," he stated angrily, "and I don't think they'll be able to shift this rock anyway. There must be some way of re-setting it and, since I don't relish the idea of being buried alive any more than you do, I thought I'd look for it! I know I got us into this mess by figuring out how to get down here in the first place, but I just wish you'd trust my ability to figure a way out of it. This kind of thing is my job, and I'd rather make myself useful and maybe help us both in the process, than just sit around waiting for the rest of the tunnel to collapse!" Daniel paused briefly, glaring directly into Jack's shocked gaze, then added sarcastically, "Assuming that's alright with you, of course, Colonel?" 

He stared Jack down, watching the shock at his outburst shift gradually through guilt at provoking it until Jack's eyes were filled with a kind of desperate sadness that Daniel didn't quite understand. Then Jack lowered his gaze, effectively cutting off eye contact with Daniel, and murmured softly, "Sure, go ahead." Then he raised his eyelids and met Daniel's gaze once more. "Just be careful, okay?" 

The open concern in his eyes made Daniel's breath catch in his throat. His irritation melted away in an instant and he reached out instinctively to grasp Jack's free hand in his own. It was an impulsive gesture and took both men by surprise, but Daniel felt Jack squeeze his fingers briefly before he released them. Daniel had to fight the urge to prolong the physical contact, but months of controlling himself around Jack stood him in good stead and he turned back to his task. 

He knew that if there were a reset button on this side of the door, it would have to be accessible from the other side of the obstruction. He had examined the walls of the tunnel quite carefully as they had progressed down it earlier, and he hadn't noticed anything marking the smooth surfaces. Obviously, he could have just missed it in the darkness but, right now, he preferred to think otherwise. 

Taking the two steps necessary to bring him up against the back of the boulder, Daniel scanned it, lingering over the areas where it connected with the back wall of the tunnel. Moving his gaze upwards, he noticed the hole where the wall met the ceiling, the hole from which the rock had fallen. It was still open and Daniel could just make out some kind of wire attached to the boulder, which disappeared up into the darkness. 

Grasping at the inkling of an idea that started tickling in the back of his mind, Daniel slid his gaze back down the surface of the rock, this time looking for hand and footholds. It wasn't far from the ground to the roof of the tunnel, but it wouldn't be easy with only one hand. Daniel gritted his teeth and began to lever himself up the side of the rock. By the time he had managed to reach eye level with the opening, his head was pounding and, inside his jacket, his broken wrist was sending fiery stabs of pain up his arm. Hoping that all this effort wouldn't be in vain, he braced himself against the tunnel wall and stretched his good arm up into the hole. There wasn't much room to manoeuvre, but he found he could reach far enough to feel round all four walls of the opening. 

Just when he thought he wouldn't be able to support himself any longer, Daniel felt his fingers brush over something near the bottom of the far side of the hole. With renewed purpose, he stretched as far as he could and his hand closed around a small lever. At that moment, his right foot slipped and he fell backwards, pulling down on the lever without any time to give Jack a warning about what he hoped was about to happen. There was a mighty groan from some kind of mechanism above his head and Daniel felt the boulder shift beneath him as he slid rapidly back down and collapsed on the ground below. 

Flat on his back, he watched in relief as the great stone was hoisted remarkably quickly up and back into its hole. The next thing Daniel knew, he had a groaning and cursing Jack sprawled across his legs. After a few seconds of blistering language, Jack drew in a deep breath and managed to utter a coherent sentence. "Oh shit, that hurts!" he exclaimed and finally fell silent, his breathing harsh in the resulting quiet. 

Daniel pushed himself up into a sitting position, and slowly pulled Jack into his lap, cradling the older man's shoulders with his good arm and looking worriedly down into his upturned face. The gaze that met his was filled with incredulous admiration that warmed Daniel through and through. 

"How did you do that?" Jack murmured and a relieved laugh escaped Daniel's mouth before he replied with a cocky grin, "Just naturally talented, I guess!" 

Jack's responsive laughter quickly turned into a wheezy splutter that ended in another curse. "Don't make me laugh," he admonished, instantly returning Daniel's anxiety to its previously high level. 

"How badly are you hurt, Jack?" he asked seriously. 

Jack seemed to assess the question for a moment before answering. "I'm pretty sure nothing's broken, unless I've cracked a rib or two," he reported. "But I can guarantee I'm going to have some spectacular bruises tomorrow." 

"Do you feel up to getting out of here?" Daniel asked. At the question, Jack seemed suddenly to realise exactly where his head was resting and he tried to sit up rather quickly. This proved to be a mistake and, a moment later, he was collapsed back on top of Daniel again, grimacing in pain. 

"I think so," he gasped, contrary to his demonstration of the moment before, "but slowly would probably be a good idea." 

Daniel smiled down at him. "Slowly it is," he announced decisively, adding as an afterthought, "I don't actually feel like running any races myself." He started to slide out from under Jack, but was stopped by a hand on his arm. 

"Hey, Daniel?" Jack said softly. "I'm sorry I doubted you." In answer, Daniel briefly covered Jack's hand with his own, then set about getting them both upright and out of the underground complex. 

With one of Jack's arms slung across Daniel's shoulders, and Daniel's good arm hooked around Jack's waist, they actually made quite good progress up to the surface of the planet. Daniel was still experiencing some dizziness from where he'd hit his head, and Jack's abused muscles were rapidly stiffening up, but neither of them had injuries serious enough to severely affect their mobility. In fact, Daniel found himself thinking they had been remarkably lucky to escape the trap as lightly as they had. Nonetheless, he was extremely glad when they exited the tunnel and stepped once more into the afternoon sunlight above ground. Depositing Jack as gently as possible on a nearby rock, Daniel activated his radio and attempted to make contact with the other members of their team. 

"Sam, Teal'c, come in, please," he said into the microphone. The response was immediate, and Daniel experienced another rush of relief at the sound of Sam's voice on the other end. 

"Daniel. Is everything okay?" 

He smiled at her instant concern; the soldier in her was automatically alarmed by an early check-in from the civilian member of the team, an anomaly since Jack would normally make all of their radio transmissions. 

"Um, Jack and I had a slight mishap with some rocks," Daniel told her, breaking off with he saw Jack roll his eyes at the choice of words. 

"Are either of you hurt?" Sam wanted to know. 

"Not badly," Daniel reassured her, "but I've broken my wrist and Jack's probably cracked some ribs, so I think we'd better head back to the SGC." 

Sam's reply was exactly what he wanted to hear. "Teal'c and I are already on our way to your location. We finished up with the soil samples and decided to come and see how you were doing. We'll carry on in a straight line from the Stargate to the rock formation and meet up with you." 

"Thanks, Sam," Daniel breathed, and signed off. 

He and Jack took a few more minutes to catch their breath, then decided they might as well set off back to the gate so as to get home as soon as possible. After the radio conversation, Sam and Teal'c had obviously picked up their pace, as it wasn't long before Daniel saw the welcome sight of his two friends approaching from the distance at a steady jog. 

Once the team was reunited, Teal'c took over supporting Jack, and Sam walked close to Daniel as they made their way to the gate together. Daniel gave a brief outline of what had happened as they walked, his story uninterrupted by any of the other three until he reached the part about finding the lever to reset the trap. 

"It was pure luck that I actually managed to find the mechanism," he said with natural modesty, but whatever he had planned to say next was forestalled by an exclamation from Jack. 

"Take credit where it's due, Daniel," he insisted. "It was a stroke of genius that you figured out there'd even be one, for crying out loud!" 

At the familiar words, Sam glanced across at Daniel, her eyebrows raised in a silent question. He mouthed the word "four" in answer and they both had to stifle laughter at their private joke. 

The Stargate eventually came into view, and Daniel was struck, as he had been many times before, by how much it had come to symbolise safety and home when viewed from offworld. Their arrival back at the SGC was greeted by the usual confusion of sirens, soldiers and medical personnel, with Daniel and Jack being whisked off to the infirmary, while Sam and Teal'c were left to make their reports to General Hammond. 

Despite his eagerness to get home, Daniel had not been looking forward to arriving in the infirmary. While still on the alien planet, he had been able to ignore his injuries as much as he could, but hiding his head in the sand would no longer be possible under Janet's eagle-eyed scrutiny. She took one look at the way he was shielding his left arm and deposited him firmly on an infirmary bed for examination. Across the other side of the room, Daniel's could hear Jack's characteristically vociferous complaints as his own injuries were explored by other members of Janet's staff. 

A couple of hours later, Daniel once again lay in darkness, listening to Jack breathe. This time, though, the sound was that of healthy deep sleep, and their surroundings were far more comfortable than before. Janet had determined that three of Jack's ribs were indeed cracked, and had declared herself very impressed with the amount of bruising he had sustained to his back and legs. She had insisted that he remain in the infirmary overnight to rest and had eventually been forced to sedate him to get her way. Daniel's concussion had made him an overnight patient as well, but the deep ache that had set up house in his badly broken wrist, despite Janet's painkillers, was causing sleep to elude him. 

He thought back to the short period of imprisonment he and Jack had shared earlier that day. There had been several occasions when Daniel had thought he might have seen something in Jack's eyes that spoke to him of more than simple friendship. As he lay in the infirmary bed, a few feet from the man he loved, Daniel allowed himself to imagine what it would be like for Jack to return that love. He knew any relationship between them would have to be kept a closely guarded secret because of Air Force regulations, but that would be no hardship to him, as he was more than used to hiding his feelings from those around him. 

But how would it feel, he wondered, to be able to be with Jack off- base, to hold him, to kiss him, even to make love to him? Smiling to himself at his own self-indulgent whimsy, Daniel dismissed the idea, deciding that what he had seen in Jack's expression was just his imagination reacting to a pressurised situation. He rolled resolutely onto one side and finally gave himself over to sleep. 

It was the afternoon of the following day before Janet announced her two patients fit enough to submit their own reports of what had happened on P3R-274. General Hammond came down to debrief them in the infirmary, and listened patiently as Daniel put forward his case for revisiting the planet. 

"We know for certain that there is an underground complex there, sir," Daniel enthused, "and the fact that the entrance is booby- trapped suggests that there is something inside it worth guarding. The symbols on the walls don't appear to be derived from any Earth- based written language I know of, and there were no signs of any kind of Goa'uld presence." 

"I'll take all of your observations under advisement," Hammond assured him. "We'll mark the planet for a secondary visit to determine if we can safely gain entry to the complex." 

Once he was gone, Jack turned his charm on Janet. "When can we get out of here, doc?" he wheedled, employing his best puppy-dog expression for extra effect. 

Janet tapped her pen against his chart thoughtfully before replying. "I'm not sure either of you should be left alone yet," she told them. "You're going to need several more days of bed rest, Colonel, and Daniel's head wound could still have complications, so I'd like to keep him under supervision a while longer." 

Daniel said nothing, happy to let Jack plead for both of them, which he continued to do with great determination. "How about if we both go to my house, then?" he suggested. "That way, we'll be out of your hair and we can keep an eye on each other." He flashed one of his mega-watt smiles. "Efficient pooling of resources, you see, and you know what lousy patients we both are." 

It wasn't long before Jack managed to talk Janet round to the idea, though she did give them both a long list of instructions and insisted on arranging for someone to drive them both back to Jack's house. Then, as Daniel was getting dressed to go, she pulled him aside and pressed a small bottle of pills into his hand. 

"The Colonel's injuries aren't serious, but he's going to be in quite a lot of pain for a few days yet," she told him conspiratorially. "You know how he is about taking pain medication, but he really does need to rest, so I want you to make sure he takes two of these every night to help him sleep." Daniel agreed to the plot and received a warm smile from the diminutive doctor. "You make sure you take care of yourself as well, Daniel," she concluded firmly. He assured her that he would take good care of both himself and Jack, and Janet finally let them leave. 

It was early evening by the time they were dropped off at Jack's house. Daniel knew the journey could not have been comfortable for Jack and he could see that he was tired and hurting. In full mother hen mode, Daniel ushered him straight into the bedroom and made him lie down. Then he made his way to the kitchen and poured out two glasses of orange juice, breaking up two of the sleeping pills into one of them and waiting for them to dissolve before carrying both glasses back through to Jack. He handed Jack the one with the drugs in and then took a gulp of his own, trying to encourage Jack to drink. Surprisingly, Jack took the glass readily and guzzled down the juice in only two or three swallows. 

"Didn't realise I was so thirsty," he commented when he'd finished, and Daniel took the hint. 

"You want some more?" he asked and headed back out to the kitchen at Jack's nod, leaving his own glass behind. By the time he returned, Jack was snuggled down under the bedclothes, a look of drowsy contentment on his face. 

"Hell of a couple of days, huh?" Jack murmured, sleepily. 

"Nothing new in that," Daniel replied with a grin, but Jack had fallen asleep. Daniel placed the new glass of orange juice at Jack's bedside and picked up his own, looking down at his sleeping friend as he sipped it. After a couple of minutes, he started to feel quite tired himself, but he was reluctant to leave Jack just yet, so he sat down on the floor, resting his head and arms on the edge of the bed. He just had time to wonder if Jack had received the same instructions from Janet and drugged his juice while he was out of the room, and then he relaxed into sleep alongside his friend.

* * *

Daniel awoke to the strange but enjoyable sensation of someone stroking his hair. Realising immediately that, if it wasn't a dream, it had to be Jack, he lay completely still, not wanting to spoil the moment. However, he must have given some indication that he was awake, since the hand stilled its motion and he heard Jack murmur, "Good morning." 

Apprehensively, Daniel raised his head and met two dark eyes, soft with affection. There was no mistaking Jack's expression as a figment of his imagination this time. Daniel's voice caught in his throat, and he could only stare in silence at the beloved face resting so close to his own. 

After a moment, Jack cleared his throat nervously and said, "Daniel, I, er - I'm really not very good at this sort of thing, but I, um - I think maybe we need to talk." 

Voice husky with desire, Daniel replied, "In situations like these, I've found that conversation is highly over-rated." That said, he leaned in and pressed his lips firmly against Jack's. When Jack's immediate reaction was to open his mouth and stick his tongue down the younger man's throat, Daniel knew he'd taken the right action. He also realised that their convalescence was going to be a whole lot more fun than either of them had anticipated.


End file.
